Fearless
by crazyhorse00
Summary: Aiden Devon and her horse Oliver Twist have been accepted to Canterwood Crest Academy. When Cassidy and Lesley try to send Aiden packing back to Colorado, Aiden needs to ask herself a question. Is this what she wants?


**Hi! This is my first story, so please read it! Comment and give me some tips, and tell me what you think! Thanks! All rights go to Jessica Burkhart.**

My phone blasted songs from Pandora, keeping me from focusing on the road, and then the drive. Finally, in a sigh of defeat, I yanked my orange and purple ear buds out and shivered in nervousness.

I twirled a piece of strawberry blonde hair around my finger like I did when I'm nervous and risked a glance out the tinted window. Big mistake.

Riders, students, teachers, horses, parents and siblings milled around the parking lot. My stomach did a flip and I tried my best to keep my hands from shaking.

"We're here, Ms. Devon." My driver turned around and looked at me before stepping out and opening my door. I took a deep breath and stepped outside, my hands still trembling. I stuck them in my pocket.

Then, I heard a sound I almost wanted to cry for. The rumble of the truck stopped and I half-ran-half-walked to the back and pulled the ramp down. There he was. My baby.

Oliver twisted his head around and greeted me with little snuffling noises as I walked up and patted his liver chestnut coat. His leather halter gleamed, even in the dim light in the trailer, and he bobbed his head. "Hey, Baby Boy!" I whispered happily. At once, my stomach calmed down enough for me to know that no, I _was not_ going to puke on the somehow clean pavement of the parking lot.

I backed Olly down the ramp and admired him in the late afternoon sunlight. His muscles were well defined under his liver chestnut coat that gleamed, and his four socks were a spotless white. On his face was a large star, and then on the mid center of his nose was a snip. They, too, were a spotless white from my constant grooming.

We turned to face the barn and my hand trembled on the black cotton lead line ever so slightly. Oliver nudged me and I took another deep breath and stepped forward.

As we walked up the path to the barn, I couldn't help but compare it to my old one. Trees clipped? Check. Aisle neat? Check. Not a hint of horse manure? Kinda check. No horse hair? Dang.

Inside, I took a deep whiff and felt my heart start to calm. The smell of hay and oats, maybe a hint of leather always calmed me down. Walking to my right, I looked at a diagram of the barn. Number 78. Wow. I walked down the aisle and paused for a moment. The last stall was number 62. I looked up and saw some French doors with an arrow saying:

**Stalls 63-100 -**

I led my huge horse through the doors and came out in another aisle. I walked down it and came to stall 78. The gold nameplate said:

Oliver Twist

Owner: Aiden Devon

I traced the fancy script and looked up when I heard footsteps. A tall man was walking towards me with a clipboard. I immediately recognized Mr. Conner from the pamphlets on the barn. He stopped in front of me and looked Olly over quickly before saying: "Hello, I'm Mr. Conner. It looks like some of the stalls are open in the main aisle, so we can move your horse over there if you like."

"Okay, thanks! What number?"

"Stall 34, 42, and 60 are all open," was his reply. I thought about where the tack room was located and followed Mr. Conner back to the main aisle. Stall 42 was only a few stalls over from the tack room.

"I'll take 42. Thank you." He nodded and strode off with his clipboard while I led Oliver down the aisle. As I passed, some girls whispered and pointed at him, and then they looked at me. Some girls sniffed disdainfully and turned away with their friends. Some of them smiled at me in a friendly way and told me how gorgeous Olly was.

After I put Oliver away, I jogged back down to the trailer and unloaded all my things. I balanced my saddle and bridle on the brown trunk with gold hinges and walked back up to the stable. I put them in front of Oliver's stall, then grabbed my saddle and bridle and put them in the tack room.

I walked back down to the car and looked around in surprise. The driver stood up when I approached and curtly nodded his head.

"I took your luggage to your room, Ms. Devon," he said airily. My mouth formed an O and I blinked in surprise.

"Oh, well thank you, Roger." Again, he nodded, stepped into the car, and drove off with the truck and trailer following him. I stood alone in the parking lot, and then made my way up to Orchard. It was official: I, Aiden Devon, was here at Canterwood Crest Academy.


End file.
